Rihanna Opens Up On ‘Good Morning America’
Yesterday we learned that pop star Rihanna would be appearing on Good Morning America today and tomorrow and on 20/20 tomorrow night in order to talk publicly about the physical assault that she suffered at the hands of her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown back in February. In part I of her interview this morning, Rihanna talks a bit about the physical violence she endured and expresses embarrassment for enduring it for as long as she did. Here are a few screencaps from her interview on GMA with Diane Sawyer and some deets about this part of their interview:
Pop sensation Rihanna is speaking out about the night her then-boyfriend Chris Brown beat her, saying it was “humiliating” and “traumatizing” to admit the assault took place and that it was “wrong” that she went back to Brown afterwards. “It was a wake-up call. It was a wake-up call for me. Big time,” Rihanna told “Good Morning America’s” Diane Sawyer in her first television interview discussing the assault. “I will say that to any young girl who is going through domestic violence, don’t react off of love. F love. Come out of the situation and look at it in the third person and for what it really is.” The pop star said it was “embarrassing” that Brown was the type of person she fell in love with. “So far in love. So unconditional that I went back. It’s humiliating to say this happened. To accept that? It’s a traumatizing experience,” she said. Her decision to go back to Brown, she said, was a mistake. “I stayed. I even went back after he beat me, which was wrong,” she said. “But again … I’m a human being and people put me on a very unrealistic pedestal. And all these expectations, I’m not perfect.” The 21-year-old star acknowledged that Brown held her in a headlock twice that night and bit her on the ear and fingers. After months of silence since the February beating, Rihanna decided to speak publicly about the ordeal so she can be a voice to help others who may be in danger of returning to abuse. “It’s completely normal to go back. It’s not right. I learned the hard way, but again, this is what I want people to know,” she said. “When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part. I couldn’t be held responsible for going back. “Even if Chris never hit me again, who is to say that their boyfriend won’t? Who’s to say that they won’t kill these girls?” she said. “These are young girls and I just didn’t realize how much of an impact I had on these girls’ lives until that happened.” After a nine-month hiatus, Rihanna is back on the music scene with a new hit album, “Rated R,” signaling a return from a time of intense loneliness following the assault. “One of the most lonely times I’ve been was in the past few months because nobody understands what it’s like,” she said. “There are a lot of women who’ve experienced what I did, but not in the public. So it made it really difficult. I just felt like, ‘Oh my God, here it goes, my little bit of privacy.’” In August, Brown was sentenced to five years of probation, six months of community service and one year of domestic violence counseling for assaulting the 21-year-old pop singer the night before the Grammy Awards. Portions of ABC News’ exclusive interview with Rihanna will air on “Good Morning America” at 7 a.m. E.T. Thursday, Nov. 5. Her full interview will air on “20/20″ at 10 p.m. E.T. Friday, Nov. 6.
So many people are so divided on Rihanna’s decision to speak out … hell, people are so divided on the issue of domestic abuse. I personally feel that any time, no matter the circumstance, a person decides to open up publicly to talk about the abuse they endured at the hands of another person is the right time to do so. It is not anyone’s place to put time limits on when someone should open up, it’s not anyone’s place to question the reasoning or to immediately assume there is an ulterior motive … I can’t even begin to fully understand the emotional impact an abused person feels when they are finally ready to talk about their abuse. I fully expect the detractors will have more negative things to say about this new interview but if Rihanna’s message is heard by just one person who learns from that message and saves themselves from an abusive situation then all of this is very much worth it. After the jump, watch video of Rihanna’s interview on Good Morning America and hear her message from her own lips …
Part II of this interview will air tomorrow morning on GMA and then the full interview will air on 20/20 tomorrow night. I sincerely hope that in all these airings, Rihanna’s message will make it thru all the negativity and criticism and find its home in the hearts and minds of those who need to hear it.
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Tags: 'Good Morning America', Rihanna
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November 5th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Who is divided over domestic abuse? If seems rather straight forward to me: it is wrong and the abused need support, in whatever form that may be to help them through.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:54 am
I think it’s great she’s speaking out. I’m sure it’s painful, and people need to see that being a victim of abuse is not something that needs to hidden. The abuser is the one who should feel ashamed, not the victim.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:55 am
I don’t think anyone’s against her speaking out I just think most people wish she did it soon and didn’t wait a week until her album was dropping to start talking about it. I think the cynic in us all is thinking the same thing, I mean I like riri and all but it seems oddly timed to only start talking about this when your album is about to be released. It’s like how xtian always starts talking, about her father abusing her when she’s got a new album coming out……
November 5th, 2009 at 7:55 am
*sooner
November 5th, 2009 at 7:57 am
@Jadedkitten — Again, I fervently believe that anytime one speaks out is the right time.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:00 am
I think the division he’s referring to is her actual motivation about speaking out now. She waited to talk to the press until she had an album to promote which is coming off as sketchy to many people. And I suppose there isn’t a dress code for talking about domestic abuse, but if there were, I feel military shoulders would not make the cut.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:02 am
I’m glad that she’s speaking out even if she’s doing it just to promote her album. Her doing this interview could help a lot of young women out there who are victims of domestic violence and look up to her. Hopefully this interview will shut all those people up out there who have stuck up for Chris Brown and said that she must have did something to deserve this massive beat down. I don’t care if she was looking through his phone or whatever else that night or any other night…nothing she did called for him to beat her that bad. I lost all respect for him after that picture leaked of her and the damage he did. I don’t see how any woman or man for that matter could stick up for a person after that.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I agree with you, Trent. A person has to speak out on their own time. My aunt was abused by her first husband (I refuse to call him my uncle) for 25 years. People will say things like “she must have liked it or she would have left sooner.” This is not true. She had five kids with him and was terrified that he would kill her. It took a lot of courage when she finally did leave. Domestic abuse remains a tremendous problem the world over.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:09 am
@Heather B — The division has been there from the beginning … when news broke of her assault, people were very open about saying that she was lying, she instigated it, she deserved it. For some reason, some people have no problem blaming the abused rather than the abuser.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Does anyone else think she is kind of channeling Sharon Stone from Basic Instinct?? Look at the second photo!
November 5th, 2009 at 8:18 am
@Mr. Gyllenhaal I was just about to say that!
November 5th, 2009 at 8:19 am
OMG Mr. Gyllenhaal! I was trying to figure out what her look reminded me of and that’s it! Haha!
November 5th, 2009 at 8:27 am
I agree 1000% with you Trent. I am very very opinionated about this so get ready for a rant. The motivation is irrelevant. The fact that this is happening when she has an album coming out is irrelevant. Do you honestly think she wants to talk about this? That this is fun for her? That she is using the hell of the past year to promote an album? When would have been the right time? 6 months? 2 months? When do all you judgy people feel she should be discussing being beaten senseless by the man she loved?
Those cynics out there (of which I normally am) should focus on that she is talking about it. Making snide, snarky comments takes away from the fact that she is speaking up.
She not only went through abuse in the public eye. She went through the aftermath in public. I have been there and I went through it alone. I alone made the decision to go back to him repeatedly. No one was judging me for going back. No one was impacted by my decision to go back except me. I don’t have millions of people scrutinising everything I do, dissecting the most traumatic experiences of my life, judging me for not talking about it, judging me for smiling, judging me for seeing him, following me wherever I go, looking at leaked police photos. It was a million times harder to leave that relationship than to stay.
I commend her for speaking about it. She didn’t have to. She could have promoted the f*ck out of this album by skirting around the questions and refusing to discuss it. Many others would have.
I am not a huge fan of her music, but I am gonna go buy it…
Okay, rant over. Sorry if I offended anyone. I am just infuriated by the judgy mc-judgersons out there.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:32 am
She had to speak out!!! But a long time ago, now it is publicity on her new album and c’mon remember she tried to come back with her “abuser” a couple of time after her “traumatizing experience”.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:33 am
@canaussiegirl — 10000000000% agree!
November 5th, 2009 at 8:34 am
TIMING !!!!!!!! ( she’s in this industry ! …everything is promoted and timed !!!!!! )
….poor girl !
November 5th, 2009 at 8:42 am
@canaussiegirl : i rescpect your comment,
she doesn’t feel talking about it, i had the impression while i watched the video. can’t help it. even if she wants to talk about it, why now,when she needs to put herself back into the spotlight because her album is out? …let’s say.. it’s a little bit timed.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:43 am
I see how it might be interpreted that she is speaking up about this to promote her album, but I think it is more likely that she is just setting the record straight before all of the interviews that she will be doing in the future for the album.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:45 am
I hadn’t been reading much message board gossip around the time this all went down. I wasn’t aware people were blaming the victim. I thought that kinda s only happened in law and order episodes. People are ridiculous.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Here’s my thing about Rihanna/Chris Brown. There were a lot of different reports about what happened in that car [which is why I'm really interested to see what she says on Friday] but I think it IS important and it DOES matter if she and Chris were a couple who fought–if she hit him, too in that car. It matters. Because THAT’S a message that needs to be sent to young people, too. A relationship where you and your boyfriend/girlfriend “fight” is a very UNHEALTHY relationship and you BOTH need counseling. If there’s more to this story than Chris beat her because he’s a woman-abusing-monster she owes it to the kids who are in these fighting relationships. She has to take some responsibility for her actions too. If Chris beat her because he’s an abuser, then he has to take responsibility for his actions. My only concern with her “Speaking out” is the entire story gets told. Not just the message she or even Chris chooses to send out. Either way, just from that little snippet I applaud her for her candor. It obviously is a horrible situation to go through, let alone to go through publicly and she was understandably and obviously upset…
November 5th, 2009 at 8:57 am
I agree with you Trent. She has to promote her album and people were going to ask about the incident. Might as well speak out on it and make a difference.
Go on girl!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:08 am
@gunnarjet – I totally agree, I really felt as though she would rather be anywhere else in the world than sitting there talking about it. However, you could not help but feel that every word she said was the truth. I think that she really, truly still loves him very much, and that has perhaps been harder to get over than the beating itself. She seems to have a very good grasp on her situation, but I feel that she still has a long way to go in terms of being completely healed.
As far as the timing, who cares! There would always be people asking “why now?” whenever she chose to break her silence. If her speaking out now will help one woman who is suffering in an abusive relationship, who really gives a crap if it also helps her sell a few records!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I applaud Rihanna for coming forward – she is a strong and brave young woman. It is usually the woman who takes all the blame and feels all of the shame in these situations, not to mention the one who usually loses everything as a result, while the man goes on like nothing happened. I feel very strongly that everyone should work hard to stop Chris Brown’s “come back” because he has done nothing to show that he feels any remorse over this or has suffered any consequences so far and that makes me sick. The fact that anyone could say that Rihanna is using this for publicity or that she deserved all this in the first place is just so sad to me. Misogyny rears its ugly head yet again.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:38 am
P.S. I really don’t think she needs any help selling records! If anything, this horrible incident could have derailed her career but because she is coming forward in this way, she is turning something awful and painful into something potentially positive. I say bravo girlfriend!
November 5th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Trent, I agree with you 100%. Thank you for having compassion for vicitms of abuse. I think if anyone actually takes the time to hear what she has to say, it is pretty evident WHY she waited to speak out, and it has nothing to do with record sales. Because it is a hard thing to go through, to wrap your head around, not to mention the invasion of your most basic privacy for the entire world to see. I highly recommend that those people who are doubting her actually listen to all of what she has to say. canaussiegirl, I agree with you as well. I went on a similar “rant” a couple days ago!
November 5th, 2009 at 10:38 am
” Misogyny rears its ugly head yet again.”…sad, but true. :(
November 5th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I totally agree with you Trent. And I also think that she wanted to speak now and be over and done with it before any other interviews.. Wouldn’t we have felt that there was a big elephant in the room if she didn’t talk about it before press rounds? Brave girl!
November 5th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
At a glance I thought she was Vanessa Williams. lol
I’m sure everyone agrees that domestic violence is taboo. And that anytime is the right time to speak out about it. However, it’s coming across as tacky that she is speaking out now…months after the incident…when she has an album to promote. It just seems that it’s part of her agenda….a little like the sob stories you see on Idol…kwim? I’m glad she’s finally speaking out, but I think it would have had more impact and credence a few months ago. JMO
November 5th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
@debho — I’m sorry, I can never see an abused person opening up about their ordeal as “tacky”.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I love Rihanna and I was so disappointed in her to see her go back to that animal after all that happened.
She’s just gone up in my estimations 100%
Rihanna has amazing courage and self-worth and nobody has taken that away from her!
She is a paragon to women out there. Many wouldn’t have the balls to do what she is doing now.
GO GIRL!!
November 5th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I don’t think some people realize that it often takes months after an incident to talk about such events with ANYONE, much less to strangers and people who don’t have your best interest at heart. Some women go years before they will even talk to a therapist. I don’t think people understand the gravity of what this actually does to a person.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I don’t see it as tacky at all. I’m glad she spoke out.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Having an album coming out more than likely makes her feel like she is in control of her life again, giving her the strength she needs to speak out.
It took me years to speak about abuse. Ironicly that strength came when I was at a place in my life where I could be proud of myself.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
It was not easy for Rihanna to speak out after what she’s been through, but she did it, and I applaud her for it.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Sorry, I meant that the timing was a little tacky, not the opening up. I think it’s great that she has, I just wish she’d done it at some other time, not when she was promoting her new album.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
A coworker used to tell me about her brother’s ex-wife. She and her second husband would constantly behave like they were MMA or WWE stars. My coworker kept telling her to stop. One day, it did stop, when he shot her to death. My coworker now goes to schools and tells girls that you cannot ever put your hands on their boyfriends. Women need to know that they cannot box with men. You put your hands on them and they might fight back. Sad but true. Although Chris shouldn’t have beat Rihanna, it seems that she escalated the situation several times. She even bragged about hitting her brother in the head with a bottle. I hope she learned her lesson as it seems Chris head. I am blaming both parties involved.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Its like the kids back in high school who used to do volunteer work just to put it on their college resumes/apps. Its not very genuine, but Im glad they did it all the same since they were helping others…her timing is awful, but it’s good that she has finally spoken out.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Who are you people to judge her? If she uses the worst part of her life to better herself then that’s her choice.
November 5th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
This is why so many women keep silent. People who do not understand judge. If she would have waited till after her album dropped people would say it is to increase sales on it. She is always going to be having an album coming out and she will always be judged by ignorent people. If you listen to what she said she did not talk about it in the begining because she went back to him. It is a cycle many victims go through. I hope you are all less judgemental when this is your sister or daughter. Her timing is awful? So sorry it did not suite the way you thought she should do this.
It is so very sad.
November 5th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
@Jeana — Well said, thank you.
November 5th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
@canaussiegirl – I couldn’t have said it ANY better.
November 5th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
who cares when she talks about it. she is talking about it now. we all need to stop judging others for their actions and we need to start a dialouge as to why abuse occurrs in the first place and how we end it. what we need to realize is that by attacking her and Chris we too are abusers. we may not be attacking with our fist, but we are attacking with our words. we do things out of fear or love. by riri talking about this, she is moving from a place of love and forgiveness and she is healing not only herself, but Chris, and other abusees/abusers. she is not only empowering herself, but she is empowering others as well.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Ack, the extremely judgmental comments on this post are making me sick. Jeana (and canaussiegirl and Trent, for that matter), thank you for saying what you said, I completely agree. It can take years for a person to recover from any kind of traumatic experience, and talking about it and conveying it to others can be even more difficult. I hate that people are taking on the tone that the rest of the world “deserved” to hear her speak out much sooner (or later)… Rihanna owes nothing to anyone, ESPECIALLY when her privacy was repeatedly violated by the media. It’s my guess that Rihanna, as such a public figure, has actually had very little choice in dealing with the matter privately in her own way. Before she ever got a chance to speak for herself, that photograph was released without her consent and spoke for her instead. I can’t image how unfair that must have felt. I commend Rihanna for her courage in making the decision to speak out, and by doing so, attempt to help others with her story. As someone else already mentioned, the timing of this is entirely irrelevant, and those who believe that the timing is wrong or inappropriate clearly have no understanding for victims of abuse.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
trent. that is so well said. thankyou! everyone keeps criticizing her for not speaking out or shying away from media. i even read on some site people bashing her for her new music not being so personal and stuff irrelevant to the incident. i was like WTF? since when do personal issues always have to be sung about by musicians. last i heard, beyonce is singing about being a single lady and then slamming guys in If i were a boy. Hmmmmmm…
—
Anyway, even people are saying she is doing this for publicity with the album release. It may seem like that and they probably did it to fit in with that but also… before the single release and announcement and Run this town…. Rihanna was totally media shy. All you saw was her leaving a hotel or getting into a car. No events or red carpets etc… she stayed away from that stuff cause she wanted time off. She wanted to escape to recover and have time for herself. Now she has grown and learnt, she is ready to come out, release an album and get back to business and also talk about it.
—
Anyway, who cares when the timing was made.At least she has made the decision to speak about it – you don’t have to. No one says its wrong to speak or not to speak. But she is making the effort, so salute her for that. I still cannot believe people criticize her yet its Chris Brown the douche that deserves all the negativity and people salute him… geez,only in this world.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
She has been silent for months and puts out a record. I don’t think it’s a promotion tactic, I think it has to do with the fact that she is now back on the scene again. There is no way she can even try to promote or do an appearance without the violent incident haunting her.
That said and done, she still talks like a “battered woman”. All the talk about “love” and “unconditional love” kind of makes me shiver. I’m sure she loved him but the reasons for going back are more than likely about him saying “I’m sorry. I apologize. It will never happen again….”, or “I love you – you drive me crazy, that’s all.” or “You made me angry…” or “If you leave, I’ll kill you…”. I’m sure he had lots and lots of control over her and played the typical abusive man games with her to make her stay in his life. Love – I don’t know about that so much.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
A couple thoughts… I’ll admit, I was skeptical that she’d talk about this right when her album will drop. But I thought there must be more than that, this is a very serious issue and life-changing experience she went through. She’s a musical artist who expresses anger, emotions, everything through their art. Making music is therapy for some and I realized this is probably what she did to cope the past nine months. Psychologically speaking, when she’s ready, she will drop her album. I wouldn’t imagine someone forcing her to do that after what she went through.When she’s ready to release her music, it’s a way of her saying she’s ready to talk. They go hand in hand, and yes, it does work out publicity-wise, but it benefits HER as being ready as an individual and victim to talk about what happened. She’s human. Embarassment and shame is a natural reaction for a victim to feel (though they shouldn’t) and would be hesitant to talk in the first place. So imagine it being 100x worse as a celebrity with those emotions. Shame on me for being skeptical in the first place. Think about it outside the box and in her place. Recall any time you’ve felt ashamed when you shouldn’t have been. Have compassion, world.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
And on a last note, watching her interactions talking about this is important. Words do only so much with interviews like these. It’s not polished. It’s not rehearsed. She is slowly finding a way to carefully discuss this private, emotional experience, knowing it’s going to be aired. It cannot be easy.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Her message in this interview is MUCH better than in the Glamour mag interview that I commented about a few days ago. I was only concerned at that time with the fact that now, that she was speaking out in Glamour, that her messege to young girls in the Glamour mag wasn’t a very strong one. And I said as much. I thought she could be saying/doing more–especially for her first interview about it. This new interview messege however is to the point, that abuse is wrong and she is giving solid advice about it for girls to follow and is admitting her own mistakes that didn’t help her situation. And that’s great. That’s the type of interview and messege I wanted to see/hear from her the other day, and feel would do people the most good. That bad Glamour interview could very well have been because it was done weeks ago or that the interviewer was bad—Diane Sawyer is doing a better job of asking the right questions–but then again Glamour mag is not the first place to go for hard hitting reporting. But it is a mag that many women read which is another reason why that interview could have helped more and been better. And that’s why it was disappointing to read the other day. Either way this new interview is great. And it shows she has been seriously dealing with what happened and recognizes how she can really help so many people, by opening up about it. And that’s the right way to go. Talking about it is also healing. And maybe that was her plan all along but it just wasn’t coming out clearly at all in the Glamour mag interview. And to Krissy who I debated my points with the other day, this new more positive helpful message was all I wanted from her as someone in the public who young girls admire—who could be helpful to them and do some good. She’s using this to be a positive role model. I think with all the other comments coming at you the other day from people upset about the timing or her album, it may have been hard to see my points. I could see that you were a caring person and I don’t want you to think that your points weren’t being heard. Again, I think it comes down to that bad Glamour interview and what they chose to ask and not ask. And anyone commenting can only go by the info she was giving at the time. Again as her first interview about it—it wasn’t a good one. And this interview is much much better.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:28 am
What in gods name is she wearing???? UGLY and don’t get me started on the hair…